Blonde Wins Must See Racing Feature at Birch Run

BIRCH RUN, Mi. (July 5, 2019) – Jason Blonde used some late-race theatrics to end a two-year Must See Racing Sprint Car Series winless drought on Friday night at Birch Run Speedway and Event Center.

Blonde, who was a distant second to Ryan Litt for much of the 30-lap feature, got a breath of new life in the form of a caution flag with five laps to go – after rookie Bobby Komisarski spun in turn two.

That set up a restart with Blonde on Litt’s back bumper, and the home-state veteran took full advantage.

Blonde trailed Litt for a lap and a half before ducking to the inside off turn two on lap 28, powering past the Canadian in turn three and pulling away over the final two circuits for his sixth-career series win.

The victory ties Blonde for fifth all-time on the series win list with Troy DeCaire, who made his return to Must See Racing competition after a five-year absence on Friday night and finished fourth.

“Ryan was checked out tonight; if it wasn’t for that yellow, I wouldn’t have had a chance,” noted Blonde. “I just have to thank this No. 42 crew, because we were really good in one hot lap session today, but in qualifying, we weren’t that good and in our heat race, we were really bad. They just kept working on it, though, we threw the kitchen sink at it and it worked well enough to get here to victory lane tonight.”

Litt was solid for the first 25 laps of the race, picking his way through traffic from sixth on the grid and taking the lead on the 10th round with a diving move around Charlie Schultz in turn two.

Once out front, Litt extended his advantage over the field to nearly five seconds despite slower traffic that hassled his No. 07 at times. However, Litt’s attempt to take home the winner’s plaque and his first Must See Racing victory since March of 2013 at Five Flags Speedway was foiled by the late yellow.

He nailed the final restart and opened a quick gap over Blonde, but Blonde quickly carved the deficit back down before making the race-defining pass entering turn three with three laps to go.

Blonde noted afterward that “it was simply a case of who was going to lift first, and I wasn’t lifting.”

“My car started off really good. I was actually surprised I picked my way through there like I did. We just started to get loose, and I wasn’t sure what we’d have after the caution,” added Litt. “Jason’s always really strong on the restarts, and I knew he would try and come at me. My car just wasn’t good enough to hold him off at the end. It’s a good points day, but all I know is I just lost and I hate losing.”